Argentina’s Metal workers union (UOM) leader Antonio Caló said on Thursday he “never believed in the (official stats office) Indec” and openly estimated that inflation in the country is running at “23% to 24%”.
Venezuelan President met on Wednesday with a committee from the Brazilian government to discuss mechanisms to speed the full integration of the country to the regional block. Brazil currently holds the Mercosur rotating chair.
Argentine union leaders said that the conflict inside the CGT umbrella organization is “purely political” and claimed that President Cristina Fernandez is after a “divided and passive” organized labour movement.
The suspension of Paraguay and the intent to incorporate Venezuela to Mercosur represent a threat to the regional integration process, said the Mercosur Federation of Rural Associations, Farm, currently meeting in Santiago de Chile.
The fountains in Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires emblematic Plaza de Mayo were left unlit Tuesday and Wednesday night, after electricity company Edesur cut off power due to the city’s government's failure to pay the bill.
Argentine President Cristina Fernández unveiled a new 100 Pesos note featuring Eva Perón’s portrait to commemorate the 60th anniversary of her death in 1952. The Wednesday ceremony at Government House convened political allies and representatives from the banking and financial sectors.
Argentina decided to suspend all activities related to the River Plate Martin Garcia access channel until the Uruguayan government is “fully satisfied” about the alleged “procedural irregularities” pointed out by Uruguay’s government audit tribunal.
The International Red Cross pledged it will again contact British authorities with Argentina’s request for special forensic groups to travel to the Falklands to identify combatants buried in Islands’ unnamed graves.
The British media have turned their eyes on Argentina which has decided not to send its president to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, considered a diplomatic snub to Britain at a time of growing tensions over the Falkland Islands.
Interview with Sam Logan (*) Angering Spain by seizing and nationalizing a majority of Repsol's shares in YPF and ramping up the rhetoric over the Falkland Islands as exploration deals promise to make the territory a major oil player overnight, Argentina is making few friends in the fossil fuels industry these days.